Intel Says No MeeGo Handsets Until 2011

Forbes reports that a mobile device with MeeGo natively installed won't ship until the first half of 2011. Doug Fisher, Vice President of Intel's Software and Solutions Group and General Manager of Intel's System Software Division said in a recent interview that a MeeGo-powered device might debut at a large trade show in early 2011, quelling any rumors that an official MeeGo phone might make a debut at this year's inaugural MeeGo Conference in Dublin.

MeeGo tablets are also scheduled to appear in 2011, save the German-made WeTab by Neofonie, which is available for preorder now and slated to launch later this year.

Intel's development partner Nokia has stayed silent on the delay, which isn't entirely surprising considering the recent shakeups in management. Recently, MeeGo Device VP Ari Jaaksi left the company for undisclosed reasons.

Still Fisher is confident in the operating system's road map. Saying that MeeGo has been hitting its dates, some of them early. Later this month MeeGo 1.1 will become available, which includes additional telephony and touch support for tablets and smartphones.

Currently, Nokia is the only company onboard to produce MeeGo devices. But Intel is currently in talks with other OEMs.